Ella Stanley
Contrary to the popular belief that those who engage in project politics are ‘sucking up, scheming, and manipulating (McIntyre, 2003, p.3), the positive function of politicking began to be highlighted within twentieth-century academic literature by the likes of Yourker (1991) and Pinto (1998). A framework was developed to aid project managers navigate organisational politics to create and maintain power within project teams. Because a project manager traditionally lacked status and authority, influence became the key driving force. However, few investigations have since been conducted. In this research gap, project management has increased its formal standing as a profession via chartership and certification (Blomquist, Farashah and Thomas, 2018). Therefore, the research question presents itself: is the framework from over two decades ago still topical, or is there now a better way to ‘play the game’? The methodology for this research is using a sample of practising project managers conducting semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data. Whilst research is ongoing, preliminary findings suggest the answer is dependent on who the target is. The anticipated implication of this research is to develop a modified guide for project managers on how to positively engage in organisational politicking to their advantage; ultimately resulting in an increased chance of project success.